Beginning of a Nightmare
by Rayne-Sayomi
Summary: follows the events of Crisis Core: FFVII the main character being Rayne Dragoni


**Chapter 1**

"Hey, HEY are you okay?!" Rayne was suddenly woken up by a shake and a loud voice. She grunted and opened her eyes a little bit, "Alright, she's alive." The voice seemed pleased._ "Can't be working for Hojo then…" _She thought dully, recalling the last thing she remembered, A bullet to the head, and a laughing Professor Hojo. _"Heh, jealous bitch, I was totally better than him…" _She thought again. "What's your name by the way?" The man who woke her up asked, he had spiky black hair and bright blue eyes, "Rayne Dragoni." She said standing up, "Where am I?" She asked, "Wutai, just outside Fort Tamblin." He answered "Okay, now, who are you?" She asked as she noticed another man a little ways behind the one who woke her up. "The name's Zack Fair, SOLDIER 2nd class." He seemed excited enough, "SOLDIER huh," she said, "Okay then I assume you're on a mission right?" He nodded. "Care for some help? Or is that against the rules?" she smiled deviously. "How do we know you aren't in league with the enemy?" the other man asked, "I just woke up, I don't even know who the enemy is yet, I just want to test my strength." She said. "How long have you been out?" Zack asked looking at her like she was crazy. "Oh I don't know, maybe twenty years or so, "she was cut off, "Twenty years, when did you go to sleep?!" He asked looking at her as if she was fifty or something, "don't worry, I'm the same age as when that bastard shot me." She said laughing a bit. "What, how, who?" he was grasping for words, "It's not important, anyway, do you guys want some help or not. Trust me I can fight, and I am on your side. I used to work for Shinra until I 'died' anyway." She said taking off the dirty white lab coat she was wearing and tying it around her waist. This revealed a strange device on her arm that looked like it could shoot needles; she then began to tear off the bottom part of her knee length black skirt to reveal a holder for throwing knives. She could hear Zack gasp slightly when she summoned her katanas, one black and one white, a Rayne Dragoni trademark. "You came prepared." The other man said. "You can never be too careful." She said. The necklace with her symbol on it was too tight, so she loosened the clasp' a bit; it hung right above the one sleeved dark red shirt she was wearing. "So who are you?" she asked looking at the other man who had blue eyes and brown hair. "Angeal Hewley, 1st." he said turning back to look at the tower, "I can't let you help, you must wait here until the mission has been completed so I can take you to Director Lazard." He said, "Fine, whatever you say." She said sitting down and trying to get the ponytail holder out of her hair. His words were soon followed by an explosion, after which the two men jumped off towards Fort Tamblin. "Screw this." She said standing up and letting her now freed hair fall down to butt length. "I'm not waiting anywhere." And with that she jumped off in Zack's direction. After watching him skillfully take out the guards at the main gate, Rayne tapped Zack on the shoulder, "What's up?" she asked smiling deviously. His face was priceless, "You're not supposed to be here, Angeal told you-" She cut him off, "to stay back there, yeah I know but I don't care, I need to stretch out my muscles, I've been out for twenty some years." He sighed, "I can't risk the mission by taking you back there I'm already running late, I also doubt that you will go back if I tell you to, so you better be able to fight." Her smile grew and she nodded. "Then let's go."

After taking out all of the security along the maze of paths that made up the courtyard area in front of Ft. Tamblin Zack and Rayne came upon the large central complex. They were soon confronted by a little girl, she couldn't have been more than nine, after a brief speech about her being a ninja, she proceeded to try and beat them up. Rayne looked at Zack and they both pretended to be beaten up by her, after they fell, she ran off, "Well that was a waste of time," she said heading into the central complex. "So what are we doing here again?" Rayne asked with her hands on her hips, He was about to answer when a giant monster dropped from the ceiling, it was quickly joined by another one just like it. "One for each of us huh?" She stated diving into battle versus the one clad in green. Its weapons of choice were a giant mace and brute strength, it swung at her with the mace, and she deftly jumped over it and pulled the strings on her needle shooter. Letting go the poisonous needles stuck themselves all along the side of the beast, it let out a roar and swung again, Rayne jumped over the swing again, but the beast let a punch fly too, she swerved at the last moment to avoid it, but her landing was messed up and instead of landing on her feet, she landed with a thud on the ground a few feet away from the creature, "damn.." she muttered getting up a rubbing her elbow. The thing roared and lifted the mace above its head, Rayne gritted her teeth and summoned her swords, "time to die!" she yelled jumping in the air and somersaulting over the beast, she threw her black bladed sword first, it hit the creature directly in the back it screeched and she grabbed the hilt as she passed it, she lifted herself onto it's back and stood on the black sword while thrusting the white blade into the thing's neck, its screech faded and it fell to the ground to fade away itself. Rayne glanced over at Zack, he was just finishing up with the other Vajradhara, as she read they were called, when suddenly another one dropped form the ceiling just as she as about to leave. She jumped out of the way just in time, and Zack finished it off...or so they thought, at the last moment it got up and attacked, knocking them both to the ground, it was about to finish them off, when it was cut in half. Rayne looked up to see non-other than Angeal standing there with that huge sword he was carrying before, Zack made a remark about wear, tear and rust and Angeal said something about Zack being more important than his sword..._"must be an inside joke or something..." _she thought standing up and dusting herself off, "and what exactly are you doing here?" Angeal said facing Rayne, she just smiled and pointed at Zack, whom Angeal turned to look at, "well?" he asked, "Hey don't look at me! She followed me, what was I supposed to do?!" he exclaimed. Angeal sighed, "fine, we're going to see Lazard now anyway...might as well just take her with." Rayne's smiled grew as she followed them out of the fort complex and into the forest. There stood a man with ear length wavy blonde hair and a smooth voice, he complemented Zack on his performance then, "and who is this? a hostage?" he asked looking at Rayne, she frowned, "As if." Zack cut in, "Her name is Rayne Dragoni, she wants to help, we just found her on the outskirts of the fort, she says she's been asleep for twenty-some years.", "Is that so?" the man known as Lazard said, "Yeah, you got a problem with that?" she answered, "No, no of course not, but you'll have to prove you can fight first." he said She smiled, "that's not going to be that tough." he laughed once, but then it was back to business, " Sephiroth is up ahead." he stated, Zack freaked out, "I'm going to get to meet a hero!" he exclaimed, Rayne was intrigued, "Who's Sephiroth?" she asked, she was rewarded with shocked faces all around, "What? I told you I just woke up." she said with a skeptical face, "He's the Hero of SOLDIER." Zack answered, "the best of the best so to speak," Lazard offered, Rayne smirked, "really.." she mumbled, _"you'd be proud…my friend…" _She thought. Just then they were attacked by some who were not Wutai soldiers, Angeal went on ahead, while Rayne and Zack took care of the director and the new enemies. "C'mon we should catch up with Angeal now." Rayne said heading into the forest with Zack on her heels, suddenly a glowing, floating red piece of materia stopped them in their tracks, the familiar circle sprouted from the center, "A Summon?! Who called it!?" Zack yelled in fury, "doesn't matter, time to fight." Rayne said as the ape like form of Ifrit turned to face them. She had to admit, her and Zack made a good team, her agility allowed her to keep it distracted while Zack hit it from behind, soon it was on the ground, apparently dead, they began to walk away and sure enough Ifrit got up and summoned a fireball that it proceeded to throw at them. Zack turned, Rayne screamed, closed her eyes, and then…nothing, someone had stopped it, Rayne opened her eyes to see the back of a man with long silver hair and a sword that HAD to be taller than him. _"That's got to be Sephiroth…"_ she thought, pushing back a particularly painful memory. He proceeded to kill the summon with one slash, the summon world faded back to reality, and Rayne let out a breath as the red sky of Ifrit's world turned back to the gray sky of Wutai. Sephiroth still had his back turned to them when Wutai came back into focus, he seemed interested in the enemies they had dispatched before the summon. He removed the helmet of one, "Genesis." he said standing back to reveal the auburn haired head of the soldier, Zack spoke up, " The missing 1st?", _"Missing…" _Rayne thought, Sephiroth kicked the helmet off of the other one, it looked exactly the same, "They're the same." Zack said, staring at the copies. "Genesis copies." Sephiroth revised, Rayne cleared her throat, "So….." she said nervously, Sephiroth finally turned to face her, she met his cat-like eyes and knew at once, exactly what he was, _"So you really did do it you bastard…" _"Who are you?" he asked, mistrust in his eyes, "I'm Rayne, Rayne Dragoni, and I'm here to help." she said staring back with the same mistrust, but it was edged with curiosity. He turned to Zack, "Does the director know about her?", "Yeah, he just met her before we were attacked. Just ask Angeal." Zack responded "Where IS he anyway, didn't he say he was just going to be right up here?" Rayne said casually, Sephiroth turned toward the ground, " So Angeal's gone too…" Zack exploded, "No way! Angeal would never do that!!" Rayne watched in silence as the helicopter to pick them up landed.

**Chapter 2**

_**Dear Diary, It's been two months now, and still no sign of Angeal or Genesis, Director Lazard let me informally join SOLDIER, I think I'm the only girl...how sad However, after successfully beating nearly all of the training programs in the training room, I've been promoted to first!!!!! Can you believe it! I can't, must be due to the lack of man power or something…that and I'm awesome, lol. No one knows my secret yet, not even Sephiroth. He and I have become good, I guess you could say, friends, and I say friends because I have no other way to describe it, we get along better than most, but still, I am wary to say friends yet. On the other hand, Zack and I have gotten closer, and no, not in a romantic way, ha ha, he's not my type, but he is an excellent friend, and him I CAN call a friend, he even bought me this notebook I'm writing in, he's so nice, he took Angeal's leaving so hard, but I have to say, not as hard as Sephiroth, the way I hear it, Angeal and Genesis were his only friends. I never knew Genesis though, and I only knew Angeal for an hour or so, so what do I know. Anyway, it's getting late, and I should get some sleep, tomorrow I have training practice with Sephiroth, I'm extremely excited to see how this goes, we've never sparred before!! Goodnight Diary - **_Rayne closed her new diary and put on her night clothes, she had of course gotten a new look once they got back to Midgar, she had gotten her hair trimmed, it was flat edged now, she had also gotten new clothes, black jeans that were covered from the foot to the knee by her new boots. A dark purple strapless top replaced her old red work shirt, and she wore wrist length fingerless gloves on each hand and black arm warmers on both upper arms. Since arriving and training, Rayne had given up using the needle shooter and her throwing knives, she could now use her swords as throwing knives, and with her new arsenal of Materia, she wouldn't need poison needles. She laid down on the bed without getting under the covers she crossed her legs, put her hands behind her head, and stared at the ceiling. Slowly her eyes closed and she relaxed, memories flashed behind her eyes, things she had been trying to forget could not be repressed in her dreams, and soon enough she woke with a start. She checked the clock, midnight, _"Two hours, wow, new record.."_ she thought sarcastically, she sighed and got dressed. She headed outside towards LOVELESS Avenue as she was passing the fountain, she stopped and sat by the edge, looking at her reflection in the water, she noticed a silver streak in her hair, she gently grabbed the strands, and held them in front of her eyes, twisting them in the glow of the street lamps and watching them shine. She sighed and flipped the strands back behind her head, she stood up and walked into the ally by the theater in LOVELESS Ave. not bothering to look around to make sure she wasn't being watched, she spread her wings, one black, one white like her swords, and flew off into the night sky. She shut her eyes and did a twist, she laughed quietly and pushed on faster, she flew away from the city, out where the moon was her only guide, she let her thoughts go and relaxed. However, if she had known that she wasn't the only one who walked that street that night, she wouldn't be so carefree. She wouldn't be so carefree if she had known that she had been seen. Meanwhile, back in the city, though it didn't show at all in his face, Sephiroth was shocked but he was already thinking of ways to use it to his advantage.

Rayne arrived back at her apartment around six in the morning, she retracted her wings and headed towards the shower, after a quick shower she headed down stairs to have some breakfast, after throwing the dishes in the sink, she headed outside and towards the Shinra building. She met Zack in the lobby and discovered that he was going off on a mission today, "Where to?" she asked hitting the button on the elevator that would take them to the SOLDIER floor, "No clue." he responded smiling, Rayne chuckled, "Well good luck," she said, "Thanks, what are you doing today?" he asked back after the elevator dinged to signal the 35 floor, "Training actually, with Sephiroth," she said casually, Zack was shocked, "With Sephiroth!? You gotta teach me some moves when I get back!" Rayne laughed again, "Sure!" she said with a smile, as the elevator opened on the 49th floor, the SOLDIER floor. As Zack walked off towards the briefing room, Rayne went to the training room. When she opened the door, she noticed that Sephiroth was the only other person in there, no scientists or researchers anywhere. She raised an eyebrow and looked at him "What's going on?" she asked, "Why aren't there any researchers?" he spoke, "Because I didn't think you'd want them knowing about your little secret." Rayne only showed shock for a second, then she had herself under control "I-I don't know what you're talking about." she said looking away. "I think you do." he said still staring at her, "Last night, you weren't the only one out there on the streets." , "S-so, I couldn't sleep, I went for a walk, is there a problem with that!?" she said starting to panic. He smirked, knowing that victory was his, " Only if your walk turns into a fly." Rayne dropped her head, defeated, in the process, the silver strands of hair caught the light, she quickly flipped them out of the way. "So…what now?" she asked keeping her eyes to the ground, "Do I get fired?" he laughed once, "No, I cleared out the scientists because I want you to fight me in that form." Rayne looked skeptical for a minute then she shrugged "Sure." she said "But, since I'm tired of no one knowing, wings aren't the only thing I'm hiding." and with that she sharply threw her arms out, her black and white wings spread, but she was not done, she threw her head back and bit back a scream as cat's ears and tail protruded, and her nails turned to claws. She took a deep breath and looked at Sephiroth with eyes like his own, the taste of blood in her mouth told her that her fangs must've pierced her lip again, she licked the wound and then her lips smiling near the end. "This is me…" she said smiling bigger, "See who I am." and with that, she jumped into the air of the virtual Banora, shedding feathers along the way, she turned and sent a friendly fireball flying back at him, which he cut in half with no trouble at all. Smirking he said "You're going to have to do better than that." Rayne laughed, "You think that's all I got?" The fight continued in a similar matter, the moves getting more complex, the blocks and counters getting faster, and the talking evaporated into nothing more than the occasional grunt. It only ended when Rayne lost sight of Sephiroth for a moment and ended up getting slashed across the arm. She gritted her teeth, cutting her lip again in the process, groaning, she returned to her human form. "I'm fine thanks…." she muttered to herself, as the area turned back into the training room. Sephiroth was standing not to far away, silent, Rayne was still holding her arm, she could feel the blood seeping in between her fingers as she squeezed her arm tighter. She looked over at him, he still wasn't speaking, but his eyes looked concerned, "I'll be fine, it's…just a scratch." she said smiling a little and walking towards the door, she stopped, reached into her pocket and pulled out a long cloth bandage, she wrapped the wound tight and tied it. "See?" she said, "Fine." she turned back towards the door and walked out, checking the time as she left she noticed that their battle had taken up most of the day _" I wonder how Zack's doing…"_ She thought absent mindedly while waving goodbye to Sephiroth. Since she had no missions waiting, she decided to go back to her apartment and see if she couldn't devise a way to heal the cut faster and maybe get rid of the silver in her hair too.

Upon entering her apartment she turned the stove on and began boiling water, she grabbed a piece of materia and began to work on turning it back into mako energy, by the time she was done the moon was high enough to cast shadows on the street below. However, Rayne had successfully healed the cut and as far as she could see, the silver was gone from her hair. _"And this…is why Hojo was so jealous…I am so good." _She thought while going into her room and changing into her one-piece black swimming suit. She had decided to go for a midnight swim in the pool down the street from where she was living, grabbing her towel, she headed out the door and down the street. When she arrived at the pool, there was no one there of course. Smiling, she set her towel on a chair, took off the shorts and tank top she was wearing over her swim suit and walked over to the edge of the pool. She sat down on the edge with her feet in the water, then she slid in. The water was warm, but not overly so, it was perfect for a night swim, the lights in the building were on of course, but the darkness outside was noticeable through the large panel windows that covered the walls of the pool room. She took a breath and dove under, opening her eyes and appreciating the feeling of solitude…then…something didn't feel right…she smiled and came up for air slicking her long hair back on the top as she did, the ends of her hair were splayed out a round her like some sort of strange skirt. "Do you enjoy following me around at night?" she spoke out loud to a seemingly empty room. "I wanted to see what interesting thing I might discover tonight." Sephiroth said coming out of the dark hallway and into the main room. "Sorry, but I won't be growing gills and fins any time soon, I told you all my secrets today" Rayne said turn-diving around and swimming back to the edge where she got in. She pulled herself out, grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her shoulders, the air in the room was extremely cold after being in the heated pool. "And I assume you've noticed that I'm not much of a sleeper…it's the cat genes, I only need 2-4 hours of sleep a night." she said hugging the towel tighter as a gust of cool air blew in through an open window at the other end of the pool. She looked at him, but he was examining her hair, "What?" she said raising an eyebrow and shaking her head slightly, "There was silver in your hair earlier today." he stated _"observant…" _Rayne mentally noted, "So?" she said shrugging. "I dyed it." she lied, but he seemed sated for the moment, "But you, still haven't answered me, why are you following me?", "I told you, to see what you turned into tonight." he said plainly, She sighed, "We both know that's not the truth." , "Then what is the truth?" he asked, "You're lonely." she stated, a smile playing on her lips, " and don't tell me I'm wrong, I know that Genesis and Angeal were your friends, and now they're gone, so you're lonely." she nodded, a satisfied smirk in place on her face. She looked at him, _"he should be so angry right now" _She thought, but he had his arms crossed, his head pointed down his eyes shut, and was smirking. Her brow furrowed and she cocked her head to the side, _"Was I wrong?!"_ she thought surprised, but then he opened his eyes, they sparkled mischievously, Rayne's eyebrows raised in surprise, "Oh no!" she exclaimed as he quickly rushed towards her she knew what was coming and threw her towel aside, he caught her by the stomach and threw her up in the air, she screamed as the sensation of falling set in for about two seconds, then she hit the water. Surfacing she spat out the water in her mouth and coughed a couple times, then set out for the edge of the pool, upon reaching it she jumped out and smiled sweetly at the fully clothed Sephiroth, running with the speed of a cat, she quickly grabbed his shoulders and threw him in. She was still laughing when he grabbed her ankle and smashed her into the water behind him. Good thing she had held her breath this time, 'cause hitting the water hurt, but she was too used to pain, and it didn't phase her, instead of cringing she simply surfaced and took a deep breath of air, "Not fair." she coughed, "That was my revenge." she smiled at the sight of a wet, slightly angry Sephiroth. She started to laugh again, and this time he grabbed her ankle again, but instead of throwing her, he pulled her under, and wouldn't let go, her eyes widened as she struggled to get free, his grasp was tight, but she was slippery, and fast, as soon as she could, she went up for air, she frowned and looked back at him, "So…you wanna play rough." she said activating the materia in her arm and sending a gust of wind that made a mini tsunami towards him. "Terms, Magic only." she stated as he used a similar spell to cut the wave in half "Hmph. Fine." he said summoning an orb of power, and flinging it at her, she in turn blocked it with a quick flick of her wrist, she summoned a fire ball and dashed towards him, she dully noted that he was close to the edge of the pool, he caught her hand and tapped her on the back. "You're dead, you need practice." she gasped, he held her back and looked at her, "But don't worry, I'm sure you'd beat anyone but me." She looked up into his eyes, slightly confused, and what she saw there scared her, she fought at the blush creeping up her neck. _"Stupid influential friends…" _She mentally muttered. He suddenly sighed and picked her up, setting her on the edge of the pool, "The sun will be up soon, you should get those two hours of sleep." she looked at him, "What about you? You're all wet, that leather will shrink because of the chlorine, I hope you have an extra." she laughed lightly. He pulled himself out of the water and unlatched the last two buckles of his coat, _"I know about twenty women who would kill to see this." _The blush was rising again, Sliding the coat off, he undid the SOLDIER belt too, and Rayne noted how much leather Sephiroth wore, she laughed once. "What?" he asked a smile in his voice, "You wear a lot of leather…that's all." she motioned at his pants, and made a remark about the twenty women she knew. "I'm really that popular huh?" he said unsurprised, "Yeah, but you knew that already." she said grabbing her towel and shivering again as the breeze returned. He shook his head, and held the wet slightly shrunken coat out at her, she looked at it, then him, then the coat again, "Are you sure?" she said taking it and using a light fire spell to dry it out. "Better than watching you shiver, it's getting annoying." he said not looking at her. "You don't mind if I edit it do you? I'd prefer not to die if I ever decide to wear it somewhere public, your fan girls are vicious." She said unbolting the shoulder blades, when she was finished, she tried it on, a little loose, but warm, and definitely better than a towel. He laughed slightly, "Go ahead, it's your's now." , "Sephiroth…" she started, "Hm?" he looked at her, she hesitated, "Thank you." she said and quickly hugged him, then she was gone, leaving a slightly confused SOLDIER hero standing by the pool.

**Chapter 3**

_**Dear Diary, I hate to say this, but I think I'm in love with my best friends son, but he's so perfect, and he's a hero, c'mon, that's got to count for something right? Maybe not, but I can't control how I feel so that's that. I should get to sleep, only 3 hours before work, goodnight diary. - **_Rayne closed her diary and laid down in bed, she closed her eyes and thought about what this day would bring. When she awoke the morning sunlight was just starting to break through her window, she quickly took and shower to wash out the chlorine in her hair, she then noticed that she was running late, "Damn." she swore, and grabbed an apple out of the fridge, she practically ran out down the street and into the Shinra building. She sighed and walked up to the desk, "Rayne Dragoni, I'd like to see my schedule please." she asked the woman at the front desk, "Let's see, oh, you have a meeting with Director Lazard in an hour." she said kindly, Rayne looked up, surprised, "Really…" she said in wonder, _"I wonder what he wants…" _She thought to herself. Heading towards the stairs and then to the elevator, she took it up to the 49th floor. _"Maybe I'll get some training in or something…"_ She thought heading that way, there was a guard outside the door, "What's going on?" Rayne asked approaching him, "This room is being used by the Science Department for a while, I'm not supposed to let anyone in, but I couldn't stop you." he said shakily, Rayne narrowed her eyes, "Who's in there?" she asked, venom in her voice, "Just some scientists! O-oh, a-and Professor Hojo!" he practically yelped, Rayne could feel a growl coming up her throat, she stopped it, but her expression became stony _"That should be me…I should be in the lead…" _her expression softened a little, _"But I don't mind this…I'll just have to watch out for him, he might recognize me."_ "Thanks." she said walking away, and toward the elevator again. _"What does one do for an hour when one can't train?"_ She was still thinking of this when the elevator dinged on the main floor. She nearly ran into Zack, "Hey, where're you off to so fast?" he asked surprised, "Absolutely nowhere." She said smiling and staying in the elevator, "Where are you off to?" she asked "Director Lazard wanted to talk to me." Rayne raised an eyebrow, "Really, me too, but not for an hour….I think I'll come anyway though," She laughed. He pressed the button that got them to the SOLDIER director's office. When they arrived Sephiroth was leaning on a desk to the side, he had a new coat, Rayne noted with amusement, and Lazard was sitting at his desk, "Rayne, I didn't expect to see you for another hour." she shrugged, "I got bored, training room is taken.", "You wanted to see me?" Zack said after Rayne finished explaining why she was with him. "Yes, Congratulations, as of this moment, you've been promoted to SOLDIER 1st class." Zack stood there, Rayne looked at him curiously, "I thought I'd be happier." he said Rayne spaced for a second _"happier… that's a word that has no need to be in this language." _She said recalling her past emotions, confusion, anger, sadness, calm, but no true happy. By the time she was finished with her reverie, Zack had come back from the briefing room, in his new uniform. She snapped back in when Zack exclaimed "Well of course!" she looked up, startled out of her daydream. Suddenly the alarms went off, the building went into lock down, and she was on alert again, she looked over at Lazard, ready to take her orders, "Sephiroth, the president," he nodded and was off, "Zack, Rayne, the entrance.", "Yeah, you got it!" Zack said running off, "Yeah." Rayne said, and headed out after him, while in the elevator, it got stuck on the SOLDIER floor. "Should we check it out?" Zack asked, "Um, you make sure everything is okay here, I'll head to the entrance ok?" she said hitting the button again and again to see if it would work, Zack nodded and got off just as the elevator decided to work again, Rayne waved and was off. The doors open at the entrance, and the only word to describe it would be pandemonium, _"Those are Shinra mechs, what are they doing attacking us?!"_ She thought wildly, blocking a shot with her sword, she charged in, slashing and stabbing her way through to the stairs, when she got to the bottom of the stairs, she was ambushed by genesis copies, and tons of them, she was so busy fighting that she didn't even notice that Zack had arrived, together they dispatched four sweepers and a whole bunch of others. After they had finished Sephiroth came up, "The intruders are Genesis copies." Zack informed, "Hollander must be behind this." Sephiroth stated, _"Hollander…"_ Rayne thought, feeling her memories return, "He lifted the copy technology didn't he?" Rayne offered, "Yes." he said, "Why would they attack us?" Zack asked "He lost the spot." Rayne said vaguely, Zack looked at her funny, "She means, that Hollander was in line for head of the Science Department, so his motive is most likely revenge." , "Do you really think that Genesis would support something as petty as revenge?" Zack asked, Sephiroth looked down "I would prefer not to believe it but…" Zack cut him off, "Then don't." he said, "Very well, I won't" Sephiroth responded, "There have been sightings in sector 8 as well." And with that the three of them headed out, sector 8 was a mess too. "We should split up." Sephiroth said and headed in the opposite direction, "yeah," Zack nodded and headed towards LOVELESS Avenue, Rayne didn't say anything, but headed towards her apartment. What she found there really ticked her off, the building was almost destroyed, and there were six sweepers outside. "you're going to regret that!" she yelled summoning her swords and diving in with a spinning combo that took out two of the sweepers no trouble at all, a third one fired at her she jumped backwards, and into the stranglehold of man she couldn't see, "I know you know how to stop it." He said while tightening his grip on her neck and arms. She struggled to get free, she was strong, but this guy caught her off guard, she gave in to her last resort, she screamed and spread her wings, pushing the mans arms off in the process, she took to the skies, she turned to look at her captor, _"That must be Genesis…" _She thought eyeing the auburn-haired face that she had only previously seen on copied soldiers. "_When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end._" He began, Rayne raised an eyebrow, "_The goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar,_" Rayne glanced at her wings, _"Is he talking about me? Wait! I've heard this before somewhere."_ she thought not taking her eyes off him, "_She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting._" he finished by looking up at her and extending a black wing of his own, she blinked _"But I thought..!"_ she thought, "You have the gift of the goddess, you are smarter than Hollander, and Hojo if I'm not mistaken." he stated. Rayne smirked "Well, I don't like to brag, but yes I suppose I am. I'm flattered don't get me wrong, but how did you know that?" she said getting serious again. "Hollander said that you were the best, if I could get him into the Shinra building, he would tell me who could stop the degradation." Rayne got serious, "How'd he know I was alive…" she said to quietly to be heard. "So, say I can stop it, what do I get in return?" he smiled, "We will pay you generously, and get you all the supplies you need to save yourself as well as me." Rayne was stuck for a moment, her mind was telling her the most logical route, while her heart told her to take another. She finally opened her mouth to speak, "I need time to think…" she said carefully "apparently you know where I live, come back tomorrow night, and I promise I'll have an answer for you." she said confidently looking him straight in the eye. He nodded, but said "If you're not here, I'm just going to have to keep listening to Hollander." he flew off, Rayne sighed _"What've I gotten myself into…" _she thought to herself, flying off to find Zack and Sephiroth, she didn't care who saw her anymore…she wasn't alone in this particular gift, however she landed on top of a building and stayed out of sight when she hear Zack's voice, "If people had wings, they'd be monsters." he said confidently, Rayne lowered her head _'I knew he wouldn't understand…"_ she thought despairingly. Then a female voice came in, "Wings symbolize freedom, for those who have none." It seemed like this changed his mind, she waited until the other girl was gone, then glided down from the building and folded up her wings. "Zack!" she called walking over towards him, "Rayne! How you holding up?" he asked grinning, she smiled back, "Just fine," then her expression hardened, "but I have something I need to show you." he looked slightly confused, "And no matter what happens, just remember that I am your friend." she said stepping back a few paces, "Ready?" she asked more to herself than anyone, he nodded, still giving her a strange look, she sighed, "It's just that, I heard what you said, 'If people had wings, they'd be monsters' and I couldn't help but hesitate." he raised his eyebrows, "Here goes nothing…" she muttered and threw her arms back, stretching her wings again, she could hear Zack gasp. She went full cat mode, this time being careful to keep her mouth open so that her fangs didn't cut her. When she was completely finished, she looked at him, "So, am I a monster?" she asked with all the indifference she could muster. He couldn't speak, his phone began to ring, something to distract him, she only heard half the conversation, but from what she could tell, it was probably Sephiroth. After he hung up, Zack looked at her again, his eyes were kind, "No, you're not a monster, you're a friend," he laughed a bit, and added, "an angel." Rayne vaguely remembered what the girl had said before Zack made his monster comment. She smiled, "So, what's the plan?", "We're supposed to meet Sephiroth at Mako Reactor 5." Rayne's smile turned devious and she walked over to him, she grabbed his shoulders, "I know a short cut," she flipped him around so his back was facing her, "Hold on to my arms" she instructed grabbing around the edge of the armor on his shoulders. He reached up and grabbed her upper arms, she flapped once and they were in the air.

Mako Reactor 5 was alight with the pale green glow of mako, as a mako reactor should be. When Rayne and Zack arrived, they were attacked, by a monster that they didn't recognize. When the battle was finished, Zack realized that it had Angeal's face. "They made Angeal copies too." he said sadly, "Zack…" she said quietly, laying a hand on his shoulder. _"So that's it then…they went and did it anyway, even after I warned them not to." _Rayne began to ponder Genesis' offer, while Sephiroth told Zack about when the firsts would used the training room, a story that Rayne had heard before. "Okay." Zack said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "What?" she said shaking her head, "Follow me." Zack said, she noticed that Sephiroth was a ways ahead of them, they were headed towards him. "You need to turn the power on in order to activate the door." Zack nodded and went off towards the ladder to the bottom floor, Rayne had a spacey look on her face, "…here." she heard Sephiroth speak, and was back to reality again. "What?" he sighed, "I said you don't seem all here." he repeated. "Oh, yeah, I was just thinking, that's all." she said faking a smile, "About what." he all but demanded. "Nothing." she said quickly, his voice softened, "Rayne." he said, she shivered at the sound of her name, he turned her chin and made her look him in the eyes, she sighed, "It's just that…" she proceeded to tell him what had happened at her apartment, "and I can't make up my mind. I'm dying, and if I don't get those ingredients, I'll continue to die, but I can't just leave this behind, my friends, Zack….you." she said, feeling a strange emotion well up inside, _"When was the last time I felt sadness?"_ she thought, identifying the emotion. Something wet slipped down her cheek, _"Am I…crying?"_ she lifted a hand, and caught the drop, looking at it and then quickly flicking it away. "What do you mean…dying?" he asked putting a hand on her shoulder, "Like Genesis, I'm degrading, and it's all my fault. I deserve it, Angeal is dying, it's my fault, Genesis is dying, it's my fault. Hojo perfected it, he was better than me, the results I was getting were scaring me, that's why I couldn't finish, I was afraid, I should have just sucked it up and finished. Then none of this would've happened, we should have never messed with it in the first place though! I knew it was evil but they just had to mess with it, and now look what's happened!" the tears were flowing freely now, she dully felt the presence of arms around her shoulders, and a soft pressure. _"A hug…" _she lightly smiled, though it did not go to her eyes. "I-I don't think I can finish this mission…I need some time to myself," she said not moving she enjoyed the feeling for a moment more, but she could hear Zack fighting off another monster, not that far away, "Call me if you need me," she said, her head down, she moved away, he caught her hand and looked her in the eyes, _"He's going to want an explanation of my rambling…I should've watched myself more closely" _she sighed, and nodded, she spread her wings, and felt a surge of pain, she grimaced, and took off, leaving a stoic Sephiroth standing amidst a rain of black and white feathers, looking after the one girl that managed to reach out to him. As he watched, he noticed a single loose hair, falling from the sky with the feathers, it landed in front of him, he looked down at it, it shimmered silver back at him.

The wind as blowing quietly across the plains outside Midgar, Rayne was clearing her mind in the only way she knew, flight. She was beginning to relax when a distressed chirping caught her attention, zeroing in on it she saw what appeared to be a pure white chocobo, surrounded by Death Claws. _"Looks like it needs help."_ she thought changing course and heading toward the distressed animal, she was almost there when the chocobo suddenly let off a sort of field of power, throwing the Death Claws back, and killing most of them, the ones who weren't dead ran away. "That was cool." Rayne stated landing next to the white bird, _"Thank you."_ the chocobo answered in her head with a feminine voice, "you're welcome." Rayne stated out loud, then she blinked a few times and shook her head, "Hold on, I heard that" she said turning to face the white chocobo who was looking at her with intelligent eyes,_ "Well duh, who else is around?"_ the chocobo said almost appearing to smirk, _"My name is Ali, by the way, and I have decided that you are now my companion." _the bird demanded "Okay…" Rayne said raising an eyebrow, but swinging onto Ali's back anyway. _"Where to?" _Ali asked, "Just go, I don't care where." Rayne said _"Whatever you say…" _she answered clicking and taking off, very fast, Rayne hugged the chocobo's neck and as the rhythmic feeling of the chocobo's strides began to set her mind free, she fell into a light sleep.

When Rayne woke, the moon was high in the sky, and she found that she was in a clearing, surrounded by mountains and waterfalls, there was a lake in the middle, and tall grasses. She was leaning on the body of the chocobo, it's head was curled around her midsection. She gently lifted Ali's head, and set it back down after she had removed herself from the embrace, she walked over to the edge of the lake. She stared at her reflection more of her hair was silver now, she sighed, and the water shifted, and the image changed, she saw herself and Sephiroth, embracing, the scene changed again, to just her, a shadow of her former self, the degradation process almost complete, it shifted again, this time showing a completely healthy Rayne with Genesis touching her arm, she was looking down, and away, a picture of her, her friends, Zack, and Sephiroth in her hand, the water turned back to being just a reflection of a very lost and confused girl. She sighed and fell backwards on to the slightly damp grass, "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!!" she yelled, startling Ali out of her sleep, the chocobo quickly raised its head, then relaxed a bit when it saw that there was no trouble. She clicked softly, a consoling tone, _"I know you'll make the right decision in the end."_ "How do you know about that?" _"We are bonded, all your thoughts are mine, and mine yours, and if I were you, I'd follow my heart." _The chocobo's last words rang in her head, "My heart…" she mumbled, suddenly sitting up, she turned back to look at the dazzling white Ali, _"You're not like the other chocobos, you have to be some sort of magical…can you fly?" _Rayne asked in her head, curious to see if the chocobo would hear her. It bobbed it's head, _"Of course I can fly, I'm not that fat." _She replied, spreading out wings that by no means looked flight worthy, "I don't know…" Rayne stated warily. With that last comment, the chocobo promptly jumped up into the air, and…flew "You're breaking so many laws right now." Rayne stated, smirking, _"Hey, it's what I do." _Ali answered, Rayne's smirk turned into a smile, "So do I." she stated spreading her wings and taking to the sky, "C'mon, we have to make it in time." the chocobo nodded, and together they took off for Midgar. When they got there, it seemed like things had gotten worse, there were soldiers and enemies all over the place, Rayne grimaced as she saw Zack fighting by himself down on the road, "Sorry friend, I'm in too much of a hurry." she said softly and continued on, they got to the Shinra building and found it to be in very bad shape, she noticed a hole in the wall, she could see Sephiroth fighting up there, she turned to Ali, and jerked her head towards the hole, _"Yeah."_ she answered, heading the same direction as Rayne, Rayne somersaulted in through the hole, and Ali slid in beside her activating the energy shield, throwing away enemies and giving time to Rayne, who turned around and ran to Sephiroth, who was standing not to far away, with an expression of indifference. She walked up to him, very calmly, only her pulse betrayed the fact that she was freaking out, but her eyes were determined she looked him in the eyes, and saw her thoughts reflected there, she put a hand on his shoulder, and whispered, "I'm sorry." He answered, "For what?" she smiled "Following my heart.." she leaned in and in one moment, she accomplished what she had wanted to do since that night at the pool, she had finally gotten the nerve to kiss him. To her surprise, her put his arms around her waist, she snaked hers around his neck, _"Good job Rayne._"she heard Ali's voice, she pulled back, and looked at him with a confused look, "It's about time." he whispered. Rayne heard and smiled, "I thought you might kill me." she said, only slightly kidding, "You're the only woman, that's ever gotten into my head like this." he said quietly, "It took me some time to come up with the courage to do this, it was Ali who pushed me over the edge." Rayne said, not wanting to let go, however, she removed herself when said chocobo called for help, "We've got to keep fighting." he said, slashing an enemy in half, "Yeah." she said summoning her swords and dashing into battle. Not to long after, Angeal showed up with Zack, _"Wait, he's on our side?" _Rayne thought confused, _"Maybe I've been gone too long…?"_ "Rayne focus!!" Zack yelled as she just nearly dodged an attack from a nasty looking Genesis copy wielding a scythe. "Sorry." she said, spinning around it and quickly beheading the creature. "There she is!" one of the more intelligent copies yelled, pointing at her. "Shit…" she cussed looking over her shoulder, Zack and Angeal were gone, probably sent off by Sephiroth. Meanwhile a group of copies bombarded her, one after another they fell, one after another they came at her, until it was impossible to make out her form, she all but collapsed under them. As she took a blow to the head she felt her consciousness leaving, _"N-no…I have…to…stay…awake…"_ those were her last thoughts as the world went black.

Rayne felt something tugging at her head, and hear voices, one was definitely Sephiroth, the other…Genesis maybe, no, definitely Genesis, he was quoting again. As she opened her eyes, she could see the ground far below, she then realized that Genesis was holding her up in the air by her hair. She grunted, and cringed, her head still hurt. "She wakes." Genesis commented, she heard a 'tsk' noise from Sephiroth. She saw that he was standing on the edge of a building across from them. She felt breath near her ear, "So my dear, have you made up your mind?" he asked quietly, slightly yanking her hair, she cringed and raised her head, her eyes were scared but determined, "Yes." she almost growled, "Well?" he asked, "Never!" she screamed throwing out her wings and half flew, half fell towards Sephiroth, straight into his arms, she was crying again, "Shit…" she mumbled. She was hugging him around the waist, afraid to let go for fear of falling (She did not trust herself to be able to fly), but his arms were there to support her. Her feet came last, and the hit the side of the building one with a sickening smack, a fresh jolt of pain shot up her leg, but she bit her lip against the scream. She turned her head back in time to see Genesis flick some of her hair from his hand in a absentminded manner. He was glaring at Rayne, and she glared back, she threw all her rage and contempt into that one moment. Sephiroth lifted her up, and set her on the edge of the building, her ankle gave out almost immediately and she began to fall. She still didn't trust her wings, but she wasn't afraid, she put her thumb and index finger in her mouth, and whistled one loud clear note. Sephiroth was about to try and catch her, when Genesis suddenly came at him, it was all okay though, because not even two minutes after she whistled, Ali came flying in, Rayne twisted in the air, and landed square in the saddle she had made fro Ali. The white chocobo gave a characteristic "Kweh!" before she flew away, leaving the former friends to fight it out, Rayne spared one glace behind, but the two had already gone out of sight. She sighed, and fell forward into Ali's soft neck, "Sometimes I just don't know what to do anymore…" she mumbled, Ali did not answer, but gave a soft comforting click. "Yeah.." Rayne whispered as she shut her eyes, "How did I get into this mess…" she finished.


End file.
